Man admits to immigration visa scheme

NEWARK (AP) — A New Jersey man has pleaded guilty to lying about providing jobs to Indian immigrants over the course of eight years in a scheme to get them to pay him for visas.

Prosecutors said 41-year-old Sandipkumar Patel, of Edison, pleaded guilty Thursday. He claimed in visa applications that he would employ the immigrants at various New Jersey companies and then charged the immigrants thousands of dollars for the certifications for visas.

Patel pleaded guilty to filing a false federal tax return. Prosecutors say he overstated payroll expenses by more than $1.4 million and under-reported his taxes by more than $400,000 over four years.

He issued payroll checks to the immigrants and forced them to pay him back.